


These Sweet Instincts (Ruin My Life)

by japanken



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Arguing, Awkward Crush, Awkward Tension, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Impostor Syndrome, Pet Store, Petsmart AU, This Is STUPID, eye bleach
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28807824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/japanken/pseuds/japanken
Summary: Amity Blight works at PetSmart, a rundown and empty building on the edge of bankruptcy on an old side of town. She fills in every shift for a long time until she hires a new girl— Luz Noceda out of desperation. From the very beginning, there’s something odd about her. At first, Amity chalked it up to pure childishness. But as they spend more time together, she discovers her biggest secret— and starts to fall for her too.Woof.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	These Sweet Instincts (Ruin My Life)

**Author's Note:**

> You know, this has been sitting in my drafts for a while. I’m just gonna go for it. Whatever. Here you go. Will update when I feel like it👍🏼 Sorry ioftc followers I’ll be right with you. 
> 
> Inspired by Impostor Syndrome by Sidney Gish

She always wondered what this twenty something-fresh out of college girl did to end up here as the cashier at PetSmart. She definitely doesn’t know anything about animals. Or leashes or really anything else they sell that relates to  _ pets.  _

“Do you  _ have _ any pets?” Amity asked her warily during her interview, eyeing her suspiciously as she ticked  _ no  _ on each box. This application was starting to concern her already. She most definitely  _ wasn’t  _ a good fit for this job but— being the store’s manager, full time dog walker, poop scooper and all of the above, they were running low on staff and if Amity wanted to survive the rest of this month, she would have to hire this kid  _ today.  _

“Nope,” she nods, a shameful little grin on her face. 

_ “Okay…”  _ she grimaced, flipping the page on the clipboard. “Anything else I should be aware of, Miss…?” 

“Luz Noceda,” she says boredly. “And actually, yeah. I can’t smell well or tell the time,” ticking a few things off her finger, each one deems her more incompetent. She really should tell her to go home but… 

“Okay,” she shrugs and forces her best customer service smile, the ones she saved specially for moms returning their dogs after one day because he wasn’t spayed. “You got the job. How are you for the rest of today?” 

“Great. I can do that,” she stands up and follows Amity to the storage room in the back where she gives her a uniform. It’s dusty and old because the company is hanging on by some loose thread and hasn't gone bankrupt yet. There’s a few part timers but really the shop relied on all of Amity’s hard work. After digging through a dusty crate, she pulls out an apron to slip over the top. 

She comes out of the bathroom after having changed into uniform. She looks very scrawny and awkwardly fitted in the top but she guesses that’s not her fault. It’s red and has the store’s logo in the top corner, just peeking out from under the apron. “How do I look?” She grins when she sees Amity staring, popping the collar up and winking obnoxiously.  _ Ugh. She’s one of those.  _

Amity rolls her eyes and turns to face her with a bored expression. “Actually, the collar stays down,” she says coolly, much to Luz’s dismay. She gets way too close, forcing Amity to scotch over away from the register. 

“What if I wanted to keep the collar up?” She asks daringly with sarcastic concern in her tone as she leans on the counter. It’s been half an hour and already Amity hates her. She was really hoping she could be friends with this girl and make her long days go by a little faster with some idle conversation. Anything Luz says just  _ irritates  _ her. 

“It stays down because we are professionals and that would be incredibly irresponsible of you to present yourself this way in front of customers.” She instructs calmly and patiently, making sure to keep her tone even and not let this ruin her day anymore than it already was. 

Luz rolls her eyes and smiles to herself, seemingly satisfied with the reaction she got. God, it was going to be a long day wasn’t it? “Alrighty then,” she says mockingly and reaches up to smooth her collar back down.  _ Good. All is well with the world. No problem. You can handle this, Blight. She’s just a kid. You can handle her. This is fine. You’re good. You got this.  _

The first few hours are slow and awkward. She stood at the front register to show Luz and make sure she got the ropes before moving on to do something else. She really doesn’t know what to think of this girl. She’s unamused and bored looking all the time and she doesn’t really seem to be listening to anything Amity is saying which— is aggravating to say the least. 

After a while, Amity moves on to restocking the shelves and leaving Luz to tend the cash register by herself. And for a long time, it’s just the two of them in the shop. It’s actually quite nice to know someone else is here with her, and when Luz  _ isn’t  _ speaking she’s actually bearable. From a side aisle, she steals a few looks at her new coworker. 

Admittedly, she doesn’t hate the way she looks as much as she wanted to. She’s wearing a weird beanie that bugs the hell out of her and it definitely throws off the whole uniform. Maybe if she weren’t wearing that, then… Luz looks up from picking boredly at her nail and their eyes briefly meet. In a frenzied panic, Amity quickly resumes what she was doing which— after she can pull her thoughts back together, she can remember that she was straightening up the dog-collar aisle. 

Minutes pass by and the first customer of the day enters the store. Normally, Amity would be tending the front counter and would politely greet the customer. But as she’s restocking the dog and cat food aisle from around the corner, she never hears Luz say anything. She would have to reprimand her later and remind her that a greeting is always appreciated and equally expected. Doesn’t this girl know anything about retail? She really did hire a lousy narcissist in her store, didn’t she? 

Amity comes closer to the front of the store to watch and see how her first transaction goes and— as expected, not well at all. First of all, when the customer approaches the counter, Luz is busy on her phone and doesn’t bother looking up until he says hello. “Oh, hi,” she hears her say and she smiles politely. She takes the item from him— some training pads— and runs it under the scanner. 

It doesn’t beep or light up. Amity groans, irritated at her wild incompetence. She went over the scanner  _ ten times  _ and still she couldn’t get it. She blinks when Luz waves her over from her spot where she  _ thought _ she wasn’t visible peeking out from the aisle—(And oh goodness that means she  _ saw  _ her staring at her like a creep earlier) and she rushes behind the counter. 

“What seems to be the problem?” She smiles bitterly at her new coworker and then over to the customer. He shrugs and so does Luz. 

“Yeah, uh, this thing isn’t working.” She says and runs the package of pads under the scanner again. Right away, Amity spots the problem. This scanner isn’t automatic and you have to press a button to turn it on before trying to scan anything which— she  _ told  _ her many times earlier. But she stays calm and takes the item from Luz to do it herself. 

“Sorry for the inconvenience, sir. Would you like a receipt?” She quickly slips his purchase into a bag and hands it over to him. When he agrees, she nudges Luz to print it up. Her eyes go wide with ignorance and Amity heaves a sigh, shoving her out of the way with her body and taking over the transaction while Luz stands uselessly behind her. 

After the customer leaves, Amity whirls around to face her with a stern look. “You didn’t greet the customer,” she scolds. 

“Yeah,” she winces, not meeting Amity’s eyes. “Sorry about that. I’ll be better next time. Promise.” 

Amity sighs, her face softening when she realizes Luz is genuinely sorry. She keeps forgetting that she’s new and has probably never worked a day in her life up until now, so she can’t blame her. She’d try to be better in managing her attitude with her from now on. “That’s alright.” She steps aside to allow her back to her station and she stands there for a moment before asking, “Do you need me to show it to you again?” 

Luz nods and scoots over to make room for Amity to help her again. “Watch closely,” Amity says gently and points at a small button on top of the scanner. “Press here,  _ then  _ scan. After that it should pop up here,” she then points to the monitor screen that tracks everything being scanned, “to be printed as a receipt.” She turns to glance at her to make sure she understands. 

“Got it,” she says with firm confidence, nodding. Amity suddenly realizes how close they are. Their arms are pressed together and she can feel Luz’s hair tickling her face as they lean over the register. She clears her throat and side steps away. 

“I’ll leave you to it then,” she says curtly and turns to leave the counter. “Be ready to clock out soon.” She reminds her as an afterthought. 

“Trust me, I am  _ more  _ than ready to clock out.” She says laughing. For some odd reason, it gives Amity a disappointed pang in her chest to hear that. She guesses some part of her hoped that maybe Luz enjoyed being here and wanted to help out. Liked being here with her. It’s stupid. She’s just gotten so used to being the only one in the shop for so long that it was kind of nice to have someone accompanying her. 

They close up shop around six thirty. Amity’s locking the door when Luz asks casually, “So, where’s your car?”

“It’s near the Sephora, not far.” She says, shoving the keys into her pocket. Fully turning to face her new coworker, they have an odd moment of just standing there and staring awkwardly at each other. Amity can’t help but notice the extra three inches Luz has on her. She seems so awkward, she’s so fidgety with her hands stuffed hastily in her pockets. “I’ll see you here tomorrow?” 

“Yep, bright and early.” She smiles. 

“Alright then. I’ll— ah.” Amity curses in her head when they both head the same way to get to their cars. 

  
  



End file.
